31.7.14

JOHN LENNON INTERVIEW, October 1973 - Part 1

Elsewhere
on Just Backdated I write about my relationship with John and here is the interview I did with him in Los Angeles in October 1973. This is the unabridged
version, as it appeared in Melody Maker,
dated November 3. It’s in three parts.

Where
Doheney cuts Sunset at the edge of the Beverley Hills estate, there’s a
tobacconist’s shop that carries all makes and brands. It’s called Sunset Smokes
and it’s one of the few places in LA that sells English cigarettes. When my
duty-free allocation burned up, I went there to re-stock, deciding ultimately
on a carton of Rothmans to satisfy my nicotine habit

“You
English?” inquired the shop assistant, who was probably in her late forties. I
replied in the affirmative.

“We
got Piccadilly now,” she informed
me. “I’ll tell you something,” she continued. “When The Beatles were The
Beatles and they were staying in Los Angeles, they were in here every day
asking for Piccadilly. We couldn’t get them then, but we’ve got them now. If
you see one of them, tell them.”

Three
days later I saw one. He smoked only Gauloises. “I’ve been smoking these for
years,” said John Lennon, in the bustle of the Rainbow Club, situated on the
Strip not a stone’s throw away from Sunset Smokes.

John was sat in the quietest corner of the noisiest
club, curled up on a seat among a constant stream of well-wishers and others
seeking an audience. In the company was Lou Adler, self-made music millionaire,
part-owner of the Roxy Club next door, mentor to Carole King and owner of the
Bel Air mansion where Lennon is staying on this rare excursion out of New York
and rare separation from Yoko.

About
a week later, after a series of ‘phone calls and messages, I spent an afternoon
at the same Bel Air mansion in the company of John. I took along three recent
copies of the MM, a token gift which he eagerly accepted.

John Lennon today
seems smaller and thinner than he’s ever been. His hair is cropped short and he
wears tiny round glasses similar to the type that are provided with sun-ray
lamps to protect the eyes from the blinding glare. He sips beer on the terrace
and talks willingly about any subject I bring up. He’s very friendly and very
open.

The
reason for his visit to Los Angeles is to put the finishing touches to his next
album Mind Games which
is due out in November. But as often as not he’s out on the town. Nightly it
seems, he’s been socialising at the Rainbow, catching an act at the Roxy and
even spending a weekend in Vegas where he stopped off to see Fats Domino.

But,
he explains, the problems of being John
Lennon are always there. Whenever he’s spotted, a crowd gathers just to gawk at
this little man who, probably more than anyone else, gave popular music the
biggest kick in the ass it’s ever had. Once a Beatle, always a Beatle.

We
talked for over an hour – about his new record, his love of the States, his
dodgy visa situation, his thoughts on the recent Beatle re-release double albums,
his lack of live appearances, his views on the current music scene, and, of
course, his relationship with the other former Beatles.

“Tell
me about the new album,” I asked him first.

“Well,”
said John in his thick Liverpool
accent, “it’s finished. I’m out here in LA to sit on Capitol, to do the artwork
and see to things like radio promotion. The album’s called Mind Games, and its, well... just, an
album.

“It’s
rock at different speeds. It’s not a political album, or an introspective
album. Someone told me it was like Imagine with balls, which I liked a
lot. I’ve used New York musicians, apart from Jim Keltner on drums.

“There’s no deep
message about it. I very rarely consciously sit down and write a song with a
deep message. Usually, whatever lyrics I write are about what I’ve been
thinking over the past few months. I tend not to want to change an idea once it’s
in my mind, even if I feel diferently about it later.

“If
I stated in a song that water was the philosophy to life, then people would
assume that was my philosophy for ever – but it’s not, it’s forever changing.”

Yoko
is not involved in the new album, although John
played some guitar on her last record. The two of them, says John, have decided to keep their careers separate
for a while. “Now that she knows how to produce records and everything about
it, I think the best thing I can do is keep out of her hair.

“We
get a little tense in the studio
together, but that’s not to say we won’t ever do another album. If we do an
album, or a film, or a bed-in or whatever, that’s just the way we feel at that
moment.

“We’re just playing
life by ear, and that includes our careers. We occasionally take a bath
together and occasionally separately, just however we feel at the time. Yoko
has just started a five-day engagement in a club in New York, and I ain’t about
to do five days in a New York club.

“She’s
over there rehearsing and I’m letting her get on with it her own way.”

The
current temporary separation between them, says John,
is the longest there has ever been – but he’s quick to deny the inevitable
rumours that they have parted.

“We
have been apart more than people think, for odd periods over the years, and now
I know people are calling from England suggesting we’ve split up. It’s not so.
The last time that happened was when we spent one night apart at Ascot and
somebody, started off rumours.

“All
that scares us about being apart is whether something happens to us. Our minds
are tied in together and there’s always the telephone, but one of us could have
a plane crash or something. We’ve been together five years or more now, but we’ve
really been together for more than ten years in most people’s terms.

“Her
output and energy is so much greater than mine that I just let her get on with
things.”